Founded: 1947
Founder: Matador
Headquarters: Puchov, Slovakia
Parent: Continental
Website: https://www.matador.tires/car
Matador has been gradually bought off by Continental, but this Slovak brand has a lot of expertise of its own. They’ve been making tires for a long while no – mainly focusing on providing durability, traction and safety. At this, they excel very much.
They aren’t expensive, so you can safely dismiss some of their insignificant flaws. Even so, there aren’t many of them. The key target of complaints is their softness, the soft sidewalls, to be exact. This is a plight on many of them, and they can be a cause of severe damage to the tires.
Even with that little problem, they are pretty durable. They do 20,000 km easily, and if you don’t hit the pot holes on purpose, you can reach as much as 40k with these. The tread is good, all things considered – the wear is generally very slow and gives you a heads-up before dying.
The grip is also splendid, both on summer and winter tires. It means that, considering they don’t die for a long time, you can purchase a set of all-season tires and enjoy them for a good while without having to change them.
It’s even more tempting, considering they are very comfortable. The softness is clear – they won’t vibrate as much (owing also to their well-done balance). Then there is the lack of noise, which is actually one of the more noticeable details. All that makes you almost forget you drive a car.
Matador tires are great altogether. If you can find them in the vicinity, you should absolutely give them a go.